Yes, I know, still on the subject of selling your poetry and art... but it is also about detachment.
Recently, I had a communication with a poet, who shared with me her ideas about selling her poetry.
She said: “I think one's poetry is so personal that it's different from dance or painting.
To present one's thoughts to the public and to tell them that you think your thoughts are so valuable, that they should pay x amount of dollars to read them, seems arrogant to me.”
I feel very sympathetic to the shyness and sensitivity, that poets and artists feel about sharing their work.
Especially work that is self revealing, explores our painful past or our vulnerability.
I do NOT however, believe that paintings is less personal than words.
Some artists, choose to express themselves and to put their personal stories, their souls and their guts, into every stroke that they put in their art.
Some paintings, can be VERY personal.
I saw women artists, paint themselves getting raped or hit and men painting wars, dictatorship murders and political upheaval in their countries.
It does take MUCH courage, openness and a strong heart- to show your art and poetry to the world.
Putting a price tag on it, may seem arrogant or ambitious, but it is part of the the artist’s life and it is the way we can keep on creating, buying art supplies, and doughnuts. (just joking I never eat doughnuts)
Being able to make a living from your art and writings- is simply a necessity for some.
A story comes to my mind, about an art show I did many years ago.
I was assigned a space next to a wonderful painter who painted large, life size portraits of people from the South of the USA.
He had the characters so well painted, you could carry a conversation with them... imagining yourself listening to their life’s stories.
I do not remember his name now, but I do remember how he introduced himself to me.
He came over with an outstretched arm, and said in his sweet southern accent: “How d’ya do ma'am?... My name is.......... and I am a gay man from Alabama.”
I was amused beyond belief.
Partly due to the fact that he chose to introduce himself in such a direct manner, and partly out of the impossible contradiction of being a gay man in Alabama.
In my narrow vision of the world, if I were a gay guy from Alabama, (which is located DEEP into the bible belt), I would be afraid to announce it so openly.
Definitely, I would not announce it right after my name...
I would be afraid for my safety, or perhaps for the safety of my house....
Over the weekend, we talked about our art.
He told me that every single one of the people he paints, are like family members to him.
He said that he is deeply attached to each painting and that he knows he must sell them, to pay for his show expenses, his travels and his living expenses, but alas, he will be very sad to see them go...
Needless to say, he did not sell a single one.
By the end of the show, he approached me, and with honesty, asked me what am I doing to be selling my art so well.
He said not a single interested person, left my booth without a wrapped painting in his/ her hands.
I told him, that once, I also, was too attached to my art.
I used to pour so much of my heart, and SO many hours into each canvas, that I felt like I was developing a deep attachment to them.
But I NEEDED to sell my art.
I simply had to make a living from it.
So I started visualizing my art in other people’s homes.
I “saw” in my mind’s eye, the colors, love and light that the paintings will radiate into people lives and homes.
I imagined it brightening people’s days, radiating energies to them, after they come home from long hours at the office or the clinic or at the hospital.
I stopped trying to “own” my art, and made a conscious commitment to feel like a channel of creativity, and to hold on ONLY to the FEELING and NOT to the PRODUCT.
Now to go back to the poet friend and the way she views her poetry and words, one word comes to me- “DETACHMENT”.
The picture in my mind, that perfectly symbolize detachment, is that of Buddhist monks, working for weeks, painting sand mandalas, only to have it blown in the wind or walked on, and “destroyed” in minutes.
Weeks of creativity and MANY hours of labor, and concentration, is simply blown away.
What does this act symbolize?
What do they celebrate in this practice?
“Detachment!”
There is a tremendous sense of liberation to be gained by NOT being too possessive of the impermanent.
It is a MAJOR LIFE LESSON and it is SO WORTH IT, to learn to practice it.
Think about how small and unsafe, it must feel to be so concerned about acceptance,..... about the need to be guarded and protective of one’s words.... Of being afraid to charge for it..... and being afraid to be rejected or misunderstood....
Now think about how liberating and FREE... it can feel, not to give a fuck......
How LARGE and EXPANSIVE it can feel, to create and to share out of a sense of joy or healing or expansion that it gives you... and to get paid for it....
How it feels to NEVER care about people’s approval...
Never to be their prisoner....
To be OPEN
To be REAL
To be FREE...
It takes MORE than just imagining how good it can feel... it takes NOT being TOO POSSESSIVE ABOUT YOUR OWN LIFE’S STORY !!!
Do you think you can understand this?
Do you feel you can do it?
Be this FLUID, I mean?
To see yourself NOT STUCK in the choices you made in the past, but as EVER CREATING YOURSELF?
An ever changing life story?...
She said: “I think one's poetry is so personal that it's different from dance or painting.
To present one's thoughts to the public and to tell them that you think your thoughts are so valuable, that they should pay x amount of dollars to read them, seems arrogant to me.”
I feel very sympathetic to the shyness and sensitivity, that poets and artists feel about sharing their work.
Especially work that is self revealing, explores our painful past or our vulnerability.
I do NOT however, believe that paintings is less personal than words.
Some artists, choose to express themselves and to put their personal stories, their souls and their guts, into every stroke that they put in their art.
Some paintings, can be VERY personal.
I saw women artists, paint themselves getting raped or hit and men painting wars, dictatorship murders and political upheaval in their countries.
It does take MUCH courage, openness and a strong heart- to show your art and poetry to the world.
Putting a price tag on it, may seem arrogant or ambitious, but it is part of the the artist’s life and it is the way we can keep on creating, buying art supplies, and doughnuts. (just joking I never eat doughnuts)
Being able to make a living from your art and writings- is simply a necessity for some.
A story comes to my mind, about an art show I did many years ago.
I was assigned a space next to a wonderful painter who painted large, life size portraits of people from the South of the USA.
He had the characters so well painted, you could carry a conversation with them... imagining yourself listening to their life’s stories.
I do not remember his name now, but I do remember how he introduced himself to me.
He came over with an outstretched arm, and said in his sweet southern accent: “How d’ya do ma'am?... My name is.......... and I am a gay man from Alabama.”
I was amused beyond belief.
Partly due to the fact that he chose to introduce himself in such a direct manner, and partly out of the impossible contradiction of being a gay man in Alabama.
In my narrow vision of the world, if I were a gay guy from Alabama, (which is located DEEP into the bible belt), I would be afraid to announce it so openly.
Definitely, I would not announce it right after my name...
I would be afraid for my safety, or perhaps for the safety of my house....
Over the weekend, we talked about our art.
He told me that every single one of the people he paints, are like family members to him.
He said that he is deeply attached to each painting and that he knows he must sell them, to pay for his show expenses, his travels and his living expenses, but alas, he will be very sad to see them go...
Needless to say, he did not sell a single one.
By the end of the show, he approached me, and with honesty, asked me what am I doing to be selling my art so well.
He said not a single interested person, left my booth without a wrapped painting in his/ her hands.
I told him, that once, I also, was too attached to my art.
I used to pour so much of my heart, and SO many hours into each canvas, that I felt like I was developing a deep attachment to them.
But I NEEDED to sell my art.
I simply had to make a living from it.
So I started visualizing my art in other people’s homes.
I “saw” in my mind’s eye, the colors, love and light that the paintings will radiate into people lives and homes.
I imagined it brightening people’s days, radiating energies to them, after they come home from long hours at the office or the clinic or at the hospital.
I stopped trying to “own” my art, and made a conscious commitment to feel like a channel of creativity, and to hold on ONLY to the FEELING and NOT to the PRODUCT.
Now to go back to the poet friend and the way she views her poetry and words, one word comes to me- “DETACHMENT”.
The picture in my mind, that perfectly symbolize detachment, is that of Buddhist monks, working for weeks, painting sand mandalas, only to have it blown in the wind or walked on, and “destroyed” in minutes.
Weeks of creativity and MANY hours of labor, and concentration, is simply blown away.
What does this act symbolize?
What do they celebrate in this practice?
“Detachment!”
There is a tremendous sense of liberation to be gained by NOT being too possessive of the impermanent.
It is a MAJOR LIFE LESSON and it is SO WORTH IT, to learn to practice it.
Think about how small and unsafe, it must feel to be so concerned about acceptance,..... about the need to be guarded and protective of one’s words.... Of being afraid to charge for it..... and being afraid to be rejected or misunderstood....
Now think about how liberating and FREE... it can feel, not to give a fuck......
How LARGE and EXPANSIVE it can feel, to create and to share out of a sense of joy or healing or expansion that it gives you... and to get paid for it....
How it feels to NEVER care about people’s approval...
Never to be their prisoner....
To be OPEN
To be REAL
To be FREE...
It takes MORE than just imagining how good it can feel... it takes NOT being TOO POSSESSIVE ABOUT YOUR OWN LIFE’S STORY !!!
Do you think you can understand this?
Do you feel you can do it?
Be this FLUID, I mean?
To see yourself NOT STUCK in the choices you made in the past, but as EVER CREATING YOURSELF?
An ever changing life story?...
